Customer research, persona and survey resources

Customer research replaces guesses about buyers with evidence from interviews, surveys, reviews and sales notes, synthesised into personas and a clear buying trigger. Design the questionnaire in Survey Studio, structure what you learn in the Three-Lens Persona Brief, and use the Survey Playbook to keep your questions unbiased.

Covers: Personas, surveys, customer interviews, jobs to be done, review mining.

Learn the method

Market Research Playbook — Research a market with evidence an investor can check: count it, interview it, survey it and keep one research file.
Survey Playbook — A 5D framework that turns surveys into decisions.
Customer Segmentation Playbook — Segment by need and buying process, size and score the candidates, then choose one segment to win first. (from Strategy & Positioning)
ICP & Account-Scoring Playbook — Build an ICP from closed-won data and tier accounts A/B/C. (from Sales & Pipeline)

Run the numbers

Survey Studio — Design and analyse surveys with rating, choice and open-text questions.
Three-Lens Persona Brief — Turn a fuzzy target audience into a persona with goals, objections, triggers and channels.
Five-Second Message Test — Show a page for five seconds and score whether people got what it is, who it is for, why choose it and what to do next. (from Website & Conversion)
Price Sensitivity Analyzer — Turn answers to four price questions into the range buyers accept, with an honest interval on each point. (from Pricing & Monetization)
Self-Reported Attribution Coder — Code the answers to How did you hear about us? into channels and see what analytics missed. (from Analytics, Experiments & Budget)
Beachhead Segment Scorer — Score candidate segments on pain, reach, budget, competition and proof, and see which to win first and whether the pick is settled. (from Strategy & Positioning)
ICP Fit Scorer — Score and tier target accounts A/B/C on weighted ICP signals. (from Sales & Pipeline)

Build it

The Customer Interview Kit — A recruiting and interview guide plus a coding workbook: about 10 interviews per segment, themes counted by people, and a verdict on when to stop.
The Competitor Research Grid — Profile every alternative with sources and dates, sort where you win, and build the investor competition slide. (from Strategy & Positioning)
The ICP & Target Account Scorecard — Weighted ICP signals, 0 to 100 account scores, A/B/C tiers and a calibration tab. (from Sales & Pipeline)
The Paid Audience Spec Builder — One persona turned into platform targeting, each audience checked against the platform's own minimum, and a test-sizing check before you spend. (from Paid Media)
The Segment Scorecard — Score up to eight segments on six weighted criteria, with evidence and confidence, and commit to the first market to win. (from Strategy & Positioning)
The Discovery Call Guide — Preparation, a timed 30-minute agenda, 22 questions (six for AI products), seven qualification checks read by AAJ's rule, and a note sheet. (from Sales & Pipeline)

Run it with your AI agent

Customer Interview Synthesis — Turns coded interview notes into ranked patterns and anecdotes, and says whether you can stop interviewing.
Customer Survey Design — Unbiased surveys with proper sample sizing and structure.
Review Mining — Codes pasted reviews of you and your rivals into themes, switching reasons, feature asks and buyer language.
Persona Builder — Personas and ICPs grounded in real signals.
Search Demand Reader — Reads a Search Console Queries export by intent and topic, and names the demand you already appear for but do not yet win. (from Content, Copy & SEO)
ABM Program Design — Checks whether the team can run the account list, and whether the list hits the number. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Beachhead Segment Selection — Picks the segment to win first from evidence, and says when the pick is still a guess. (from Strategy & Positioning)
Buying Committee Map — Maps who must say yes, what each must believe, and who you cannot reach, then orders the next conversations. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Target Account List — A fit-scored, tiered target account list. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Partnerships & Co-Marketing — Score partners on overlap rather than fame, write the terms, judge it on pipeline. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)

Read the research

Running and Synthesizing Customer Interviews — Five steps from interview to decision: decide what to learn, ask about the last time, code, count people, stop at saturation.
Competitive Analysis for Startups: Research That Changes Decisions — List every alternative, including doing nothing, find where you clearly win, and turn the research into the competition slide investors expect. (from Strategy & Positioning)
How to Size Your Market: TAM, SAM and SOM — Size your market bottom-up: count the customers, multiply to get TAM, narrow to SAM and build SOM from capacity. (from Strategy & Positioning)
Running a Discovery Call: Ask About the Problem, Not Your Product — Five steps for a first sales call: agenda, situation-problem-impact questions, price the pain, the decision, a dated next step. (from Sales & Pipeline)

Work with AAJ

Growth Audit